The Pan-American Exposition held at Buffalo, New York, opened May 1, 1901, and closed November 2, 1901. An exhibit from the Smithsonian Institution and National Museum was provided for ill the act of Congress approved March 3, 1899. The total amount appropriated for the Government exhibit was $300,000, and for a Government building, $200,000. Of the former amount the Smithsonian Institution and National Museum were allotted $50,000, in addition to which $2,500 was transferred from the allotment of the Interior Department to allow for the construct ion of a model of the extinct American reptile Triceratops to be jointly exhibited by the National Museum and the Geological Survey. The total amount allotted was considerably below the estimate submitted to the board, which was $62,625.

On the gross sum originally available a pro rata assessment to provide, for an exhibit from the outlying possessions of the United State, amounting to $1,960.79, was made by the board, and $200 were transferred to the allotment of the War Department. The net Smithsonian allotment was, therefore, .$50,339.21

The Government building at Buffalo was on the west side of the exposition grounds. [ed. note: the building was on the south east side of the grounds.] It was oblong in shape, and had a length of 140 feet and a breadth of 111 feet and was surmounted by a dome 235 feet high. Two pavilions were connected with the main building, on the east side [ed. note, the west side] by colonnades. The north pavilion was occupied by the Fish Commission and the South pavilion conjointly by the Department of Agriculture and the Philippine collection. The exterior of the building was finished in staff and tinted yellow, except the dome, which was blue. The elaborate polychrome decoration of the other exposition buildings was not attempted

The space in the Government building allotted to the Smithsonian Institution and National Museum was in the northwestern corner. It originally amounted to 10,108 square feet, but the size of the Government building being subsequently reduced the space was contracted. From the extreme north and south ends and from the west wall to the main aisle it measured 133 feet by 56 feet, comprising an area of about 7,500 square feet. A small area at the north end was separated front the main space by a cross aisle 8 feet wide, leading; to one of the west entrances, and a, similar aisle crossed the space near the south end, though this was not originally proposed, but was found necessary to allow convenient. admission front the annexes. The subdivision of the space and the arrangement of cases are shown in tile accompanying diagram.

The space was on the whole well lighted by a series of large wndows in the west wall, supplemented by the clearstory windows above the main aisle. The west windows were stippled with white paint to obstruct, the direct rays of the sun, and a series of transparencies placed lit front of them as embellishments.

As usual in most exposition buildings the posts supporting the clearstory and aisles caused more or less inconvenience in locating the cases. In one instance it proved unavoidable to cut a standard case in pieces and rebuild it about a post in order to maintain an important aisle. In other instances posts stood immediately in front of the cases, producing a most undesirable effect,. These architectural inconveniences can only be got rid of by supporting the roof by a series of arches springing front the walls.

The interior decoration of the building, as a whole, was placed in the hands of a committee of the Government board and was uniform throughout, consisting of red and green bunting sit supplemented by United States flags. To these, in the Museum space, were added large signs bearing the name of the Institution and Museum and a trophy, or coat of arms, with the seal and motto of the Smithsonian Institution.

The building had no basements, and empty packing cases were stored in lofts in the various towers and the parapets constructed by the War Department to illustrate the mounting of large ordnance.

A good deal of inconvenience was experienced at the beginning by the defects in the roof of the building, on account of which certain parts of the space were flooded during heavy rains. By constant watchfulness however, serious damage was avoided. The weather conditions immediately prior to the opening of the Exposition were extremely unfavorable. Workmen suffered much from cold, and the receipt and unloading of exhibits were greatly hampered. Nevertheless, by hard work the Museum display was opened to the public and practically complete on the 1st of stay, when many other parts of the Exposition were in a backward condition.

As in the case of previous expositions, the exhibit of the National Museum far exceeded that of the other bureaus under the direction of the Smithsonian Institution and of the Institution itself, and the greater part of the total sum allotted was expended in its preparation. The reason of this will be readily understood when it is recalled that the Museum is continuously engaged in preparing permanent exhibits for the public, and has greater responsibilities in this direction than any other bureau of the Government. The proportion of the allotment expended by the Museum can not be exactly stated, because the same mechanics and preparators who were employed in connection with its exhibits were also engaged for some time on the work of the other bureaus of the Institution. No apportionment among the several bureaus of the sum set aside by the Government board was necessary or desirable, and none was made.

The Bureau of American Ethnology made no separate exhibit on this occasion, those features of its work which lend themselves to exhibition being shown through the agency of the Department of Anthropology in the Museum.

As in previous instances, the permanent collections, cases, and fixtures of the Museum were drawn upon as far as circumstances would permit, but some new cases were found indispensable, and numerous specimens were purchased to fill out the various series which it was finally determined to exhibit at Buffalo.

The temporary cases constructed for the Exposition were of pine, painted black, and furnished with plate glass. These comprised group cases for the Department of Anthropology and wall cases and or two special cases for the Departments of Biology and Geology. The regular mahogany Museum cases used were of the styles known as "reconstructed door screens" and "slope tops."

As may be surmised, the regular staff of the Museum can not be drawn upon beyond a certain limit to prepare collections for a temporary exposition. The regular work of the Museum goes on hand in hand with the special exposition work, and the principal officers of the Museum devote a share of their time to each, but it is necessary to augment the staff of preparators, taxidermists, etc, very considerably or the exposition collections could never be got ready on time This necessity causes one of the principal difficulties in preparing for an exposition, as expert preparators are few, and those whose services are desirable are not always to be had at a specified time. The Museum was especially fortunate in this matter in connection with the Pan- Exposition, and it is not too much to say that the work turned out both by the regular and temporary preparators was superior as a whole to any previous effort. The temporary preparations consisted of sculptors, model makers, taxidermists, colorists, paleontological preparators, modelers, and preparators of "accessories," such as artificial leaves, flowers, etc.

On June 23, 1899, Mr. AV. V. Cox, chief clerk of the National Museum, was designated chief special agent, Smithsonian Institution and National Museum, for the Pan-American Exposition. Mr. Cox was also elected secretary of the Government board June 13, 1899, and with the consent of the Secretary of the Smithsonian Institution served in this capacity throughout the Exposition.

The work of preparing the exhibits was begun in July, 1899, at which time a building on Tenth street S.W., Washington, was leased for temporary workshops. Another workshop and warehouse, No. 414 Tenth street N. W., was occupied from August, 1900, to April, 1901, by the Museum conjointly with several of the Executive Departments.

One of the first operations engaged in was the overhauling of the collections stored in the Museum annexes for material suitable for the Exposition. This involved considerable time and expense on account of the crowded condition of tile storage quarters.

A considerable amount of field work was done in connection with the exhibits. Drs. Stejneger and Richmond visited Porto Rico, and Messrs. William Palmer and J.H. Riley explored western Cuba in February, 1900, and succeeding months in search of characteristic birds, reptiles, and batrachians. By the courtesy of the War Department the collectors were sent to their respective destinations on the transports McPherson and Sedgwick, and the collections made in Cuba were also transported to the United States through the Quartermaster's Department of the Army. Drs. Stejneger and Richmond returned April 29, 1900, and Messrs. Palmer and Riley August 14,1900. Mr. Wirt Tassin visited Philadelphia in July, 1899, to examine collections of minerals, and a number of purchases were made. Mr. F. A. Lucas visited the vicinity of Plattekill, New York, in August, 1899, for the purpose of examining a mastodon skeleton of which some information lead been received. The specimen did not, however, prove suitable for the exhibit. Another endeavor was made in the autumn of 1899 to obtain a mastodon skeleton by excavating near Monroe, New York, but this also proved unsuccessful. The same was the case with investigations in Arkansas, Oklahoma, and Indian Territory in October, 1900. Mr. Lucas wen to Kiminswick, Missouri, in August, 1900, on the same mission, but without result. Dr. G.P. Merrill superintended the sawing of some fine specimens of orbicular granite in Baltimore in October, 1899. Dr. Merrill also visited several localities in North Carolina in November, 1899, and New Haven, Connecticut, Chester, Massachusetts in March, 1901, and New York City in January, 1900, for the purpose of obtaining geological specimens. Mr. W. H. Newhall visited Point of Rocks, Maryland, for the purpose of obtaining specimens of the conglomerate rock of that locality. Mr. Adolph Tuchband, who made an expedition to the Upper Amazon River in the spring of 1900, undertook to obtain ethnological objects, models, costumes, utensils, etc., of the Indian tribes of that region. The Museum, however, received nothing from this source.

Mr. W. T. McGee, ethnologist in charge, Bureau of American Ethnology, was granted a small sum to collect objects illustrating the ethnology of the Tepoka Indians of Mexico. On visiting their country, however, he found the tribe practically exterminated, and he turned his attention to the Cocopa Indians, from whom he obtained a valuable collection.

Additions to the various series which it was decided to exhibit were also made by purchase from professional collectors and dealers both in the United States and Europe.

Prof. J. B. Steere spent two months on the Amazon River in obtaining characteristic fishes and other vertebrates of that part of South America and objects illustrating the ethnology of the various Indian tribes. Messrs. Barton A. Bean and W. H. King were detailed to go to Key West, Florida, to collect fishes in formalin, for a special exhibit…